The Jollof Festival Aims to Make Up for Last Year’s African Food Festival Missteps

Organizer Ishmael Osekre recently staged a new event to help bounce back from issues surrounding last year’s NYC African Food Festival.

This story is part of 1 Minute Meal, a documentary series that uses food to reveal the communities, legacies, dreams, realities and unseen forces that shape life in New York City.

When Ishmael Osekre announced that he was throwing “New York’s first African Food Festival” last year, he captured the imagination of hundreds of people who lined up in Brooklyn last August for a chance to sample cuisines from across the continent. That event turned out to be a perfect storm of outrage. A late start to the events, lack of air conditioning, a low number of food vendors and inability to issue refunds resulted in a wave of criticism—of the event and of Osekre personally—on social media.

Osekre was determined to try again despite any damage to his reputation. As the musician and producer behind Afropolitan Insights—a cultural brand that puts on events to showcase the African diaspora in a positive light—he is dedicated to advancing the image of African people. This work is more personal than profit-minded for him, and consequently, when people on Facebook accused him of being a scammer, he only became more driven to put on a food festival that would redeem his vision.

Last month Osekre made good on his promise with the Jollof Festival. Working through the checklist of mistakes he had made the first time around, he delivered a mix of food, music and art that was more practically designed, more reliably staffed and air conditioned. And true to his mission, the menu—presenting various takes on jollof rice from several African countries—was just one layer in a joyous celebration of African identity. When taking the stage to address the crowd at the end of the day, Osekre thanked attendees for giving him a second chance, promised to continue improving the event in years to come and smiled—the tired, relieved smile that comes with taking on the burden of representation and succeeding, even if just for one day in Brooklyn.

Through September 1, Edible Brooklyn is collaborating with Edible Manhattan, Edible Queens, Edible Bronx, and the Staten Island Advance to debut 30 new videos about food and life in New York. Subscribe to 1 Minute Meal to see a food films from all five boroughs.

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James Boo is a multimedia journalist based in Brooklyn. As Editor-in-Chief of Real Cheap Eats, an independent filmmaker, and a freelance food writer, James has devoted his storytelling career to the intersection of food and culture. You can see more episodes of this web series at oneminutemealfilms.com.

Edible Brooklyn is published four times a year and available by subscription, for sale at selected retailers and at other distribution spots throughout Brooklyn. Please visit our sister magazines, Edible Manhattan, Edible East End, and the Edibles in New York state. And visit Edible Communities to find the publication nearest you.